The Good Canadian (2025)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Good Canadian is a documentary film which premiered on Canadian television (CBC) in 2025.

 

What is the topic of this film? The topic is a dark chapter of Canadian history: the history of the indigenous peoples in Canada. One reviewer presents this topic with the following words:

 

“Canada likes to pretend that our history is full of noble white settlers, when the reality is dark and disturbing.”

 

Here is some basic information about this film:

 

** Directors: Leena Minifie and David Paperny

** Writers: Kerriann Cardinal, Leena Minifie and David Paperny

** Run time: 88 minutes

 

Several persons are interviewed in this film

Here are the names of the participants

Listed in alphabetical order

 

** Evan Adams

** Cindy Blackstock

** Corina Bye

** Noah Fred

** David Graham

** Jill (no last name given)

** Brady Knight

** Ernie Louitt

** Sheelah McLean

** Dean Neu

** Shiri Pasternak

** Sophie Radecki

** Samir Shaheen-Hussain

** Eily Sprungman

 

Some are members of the indigenous population, while others are Caucasian (white). They have a shared interest: they all want justice for the indigenous peoples of Canada.

 

What can we learn from this film? One reviewer makes the following statement:

 

“This film holds its focus on the treatment of First Nations Canadians, and in particular how their children are treated by the educational, fostering and other systems.

 

“This film presents systematic abuses, racism, and mistreatment at the hands of the police, [the] medical establishment, and other government bodies.”

 

What about the persons who are interviewed in this film? Are they well-chosen? One reviewer makes the following statement:

 

“The people interviewed in this movie are knowledgeable, authentic, and compelling. It was good to see Cindy Blackstock front and centre.”

 

Cindy Blackstock, who appears many times in this film, is a political activist and a professor for the School of Social Work at McGill University.

 

In this film, she explains that she wanted to find out how much the Canadian authorities knew about the lives of the indigenous peoples about one hundred years ago.

 

Were they aware of what was happening? Did they know about abuse and mistreatment? If the answer is yes, was it deliberate? Or did the authorities not have any real information about this topic?

 

While searching through old documents, she came across the name Peter Henderson Bryce, who was the Chief Medical Officer of Indian Affairs in the beginning of the twentieth century.

 

In 1907, P. H. Bryce complied a detailed report about the living conditions of the indigenous peoples, but his report was not published, because it contained information which the government wanted to keep secret.

 

This is how Bryce was silenced in 1907. He continued to serve until 1921. After his retirement, he published his own report from 1907 which had been classified by the government.

 

He was a whistleblower who tried to tell the government and the people of Canada that the official policy towards the indigenous population was wrong.

 

The case of Peter Bryce shows that the Canadian government knew exactly what was happening. 

 

The members of government knew that public services to the indigenous peoples were underfunded but they did not care. This was a part of a deliberate policy towards the indigenous peoples.

 

Many strong words are spoken in this film. The Canadian government is criticized for its past and present policy.

 

The abuse and the injustice which occurred in the residential schools are mentioned many times.

 

Terms like colonial administration and cultural genocide are used more than once to describe the policy of the government.

 

Is this fair? Is there any evidence to support the use of such harsh terms? This film presents evidence in the form of some individual cases as well as statistical information in order to back up the charges which are made here.

 

What do reviewers say about this film?

 

On IMDB it has a rating of 72 percent. At the moment no user reviews are posted on this website.

 

Letterboxd has some reviews. Eleven user reviews are posted on this website. Nine reviews offer a specific rating of 3 or 4 or 5 stars. 

 

No review offers only one or two stars. Two reviews do not offer a specific rating, but they are both positive.

 

The average rating of the nine reviews is 4.1 stars, which corresponds to a rating of 82 percent.

 

I understand the positive reviews and I agree with them. The topic is important. The story deserves to be told, and in this film, it is done very well.

 

I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent).

 

PS. The reviews from which I have quoted here are posted on Letterboxd.

 

REFERENCES

 

# 1. Books

 

A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System, 1879 to 1986

By John S. Milloy

(1999 = first edition) 

(2017 = second edition)

 

Justice, Indigenous Peoples, and Canada: 

A History of Courage and Resilience

Edited by K. M. Campbell and Stephanie Wellman

(2023 = hardcover)

(2025 = paperback)

 

# 2. Film and video

 

We Were Children

This documentary film premiered in 2012

 

Dear Flora

(the original French title: Pour toi, Flora)

This six-part television series, which premiered in 2022, is inspired by true events

 

# 3. The Canadian Encyclopedia (available online)

Here are some relevant items:

 

Section A = topics

Indigenous Peoples in Canada

Rights of Indigenous People in Canada

Genocide and Indigenous Peoples in Canada

Systemic Racism in Canada

Prejudice and Discrimination in Canada

Residential Schools in Canada

Residential Segregation of Indigenous Peoples in Canada

Health of Indigenous Peoples in Canada

Colonialism in Canada

Sixties Scoop

Government Apology to Former Students of Residential Schools in Canada

 

Section B = individuals

Sir Oliver Mowat (1820-1903)

Peter Henderson Bryce (1853-1932)

Duncan Campbell Scott (1862-1947)

Cindy Blackstock (born 1964)

 

*****

 

Students and teachers in front of a

residential school in Canada

 

*****

 

The Canadian political activist 

Cindy Blackstock

(born 1964)

 

*****

 

A National Crime:

The Canadian Government and the 

Residential School System, 1879 to 1986

By John S. Milloy

(1999 = first edition)

(2017 = second edition)

 

*****

 

Ole Rømer (1644-1710)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ole Rømer was born in Aarhus in 1644. He graduated from Aarhus Cathedral School in 1662.

 

His last name is often spelled Roemer, because foreigners cannot type the Danish letter ø.

After graduation he moved to the capital Copenhagen where he studied astronomy at the University. While he was there, he worked with the French astronomer Jean Picard (1620-1682).

 

In 1672, he travelled to France with Jean Picard. He stayed for nine years. While he was there, he had an amazing career:

 

** King Louis XIV invited him to teach the crown prince (le dauphin).

** He became a member of l'Académie Royale des Sciences which was established in 1666.

** He was invited to work on the creation and development of the fountains in the park behind the Palace of Versailles.

 

All these things happened, even though France was a Catholic country, while Ole Rømer was a Protestant.

 

** He continued astronomical observations which he had started in Denmark in 1671.

 

His purpose was to determine the speed of light. His observations continued until 1675. The result of his observations was announced in 1676.

 

He was the first astronomer in the world to determine that light has a certain speed.

 

According to Ole Rømer, the speed of light is somewhere between 212,000 and 230,000 km per second. This estimate is too low.

 

In 1728, the English astronomer James Bradley made a calculation which was closer to the correct figure. According to Bradley, the speed of light is 301,000 km per second.

 

The correct figure is 300,000 km per second (using round figures).

 

In 1681, Ole Rømer returned to Denmark where he settled down in Copenhagen. When he was back in Denmark, he had an amazing career:

 

** He became a professor of astronomy at Copenhagen University

** He was instrumental in a national project to measure the size of Denmark

** He became a member of the Supreme Court

** He became chief of the police force in Copenhagen.

As chief of police, he arranged for installing lights in the streets of the capital

** He convinced the Danish king that it was time to abandon the Julian calendar and switch to the Gregorian calendar, which had been introduced in Catholic lands in 1582. The switch was made in the year 1700.

** He invented a thermometer where the scale was based on two fixed points: the low point where salt water freezes. The high point where water is boiling.

In 1708, the physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686-1736) was in Copenhagen. While he was there, he had a meeting with Ole Rømer who showed him his thermometer.

Fahrenheit was fascinated with Rømer's thermometer. He began to work on the case. In 1724, he presented his own thermometer with the scale which is named after him: the Fahrenheit scale, which is based on two fixed points.

 

Ole Rømer was a busy man who had many lines of work. He was a very practical person who accomplished many important and useful things in his life. 

 

He died in Copenhagen in 1710.

 

What made him famous beyond the borders of Denmark is the fact that he was the first astronomer to determine that light has a certain speed.

 

PS. Aarhus Cathedral School is old. Nobody knows exactly how old but it is known that it was operating in 1195. 

 

In 1995, the school celebrated the 800-year anniversary of the school. It is not the oldest school in Denmark but it is certainly one of the oldest schools in Denmark.

 

I graduated from this school in 1969, more than 300 years after Ole Rømer. Ten years later I returned to the school as a teacher. I was a teacher of History and Latin at this school for more than twenty-five years (1979-2006).

 

***** 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This small memorial plaque is placed on the wall next to the entrance of the school from which he graduated in 1662. The Danish text says:

Han målte lysets tøven

In English:

“He measured the speed of light.”

 

The text of the memorial plaque on the wall next to the entrance of the school

** Ole Rømer

** 1644-1710

** He measured the speed of light

** Graduated from Aarhus Cathedral School in 1662

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This memorial relief on the wall of the city hall in Aarhus shows the famous astronomer Ole Rømer with some of the instruments which he used to observe the movements of the planets

 

*****